Tom
by Rumour of an Alchemist
Summary: Alternate Universe. One-shot for now due to other ongoing projects. Tom Marvolo Riddle's diary is discovered by a pupil at Hogwarts in 1972, and the 'Tom' of the diary struggles to comprehend what's going on in the wizarding world...


Disclaimer: I am not J K Rowling. I do not own Harry Potter. I am not Mary Norton or an employee of Walt Disney either. I do not own _Bedknobs and Broomsticks_, which are where I have borrowed Eglantine Price and the 'substitutiary locomotion' spell from.

Note: The following is set in an alternate universe where the diary of Tom Marvolo Riddle (which in canon features in the second book) is discovered hidden somewhere in Hogwarts in 1972 by a second year Slytherin student. This is from the perspective of 'Tom' and a one-shot for now.

* * *

It was odd being a bundle of memories, bound in paper, not quite alive, but aware, and lying forgotten and abandoned in a chest in Hogwarts.

There had been powerful magic on the chest. Magic intended to hide it, but which was slowly decaying.

Then, finally, light, and a sense of flesh pressed against pages, and at last ink scratching across the paper, in the shape of a cautiously traced warding rune, to see what happened.

_Hello, there,_ Tom responded. _Who are you, what year is it, how long have I been in this place?_

The response was cautious and wary, and came after a few minutes:

_WHO and what are you? What do you mean 'this place'?_

_I'm a Hogwarts student, or the memories of one. As far as I know, I'm here in the pages of a book. I have no idea where the book is now. The last I knew, it was hidden in the Slytherin dormitory._

_What year student? When did you end up in the book?_

_I was a fifth year student. I don't remember the year, but I think we were fighting Grindelwald. Is the war over yet? Did we beat him?_

_It's over two decades since Albus Dumbledore beat Gellert Grindelwald in a duel and ended the only war I know of against Grindelwald. Were you involved in the war?_

_No, but the name Dumbledore seems familiar. I think he was a Hogwarts teacher. It seemed like he __could__ have a great destiny ahead of him, I recall._

_He's headmaster of Hogwarts now. They offered him the job of Minister, but he turned it down._

_Well, the Ministry only appeals to certain types of wizard. It doesn't mean anything to turn down the position of Minister. I hoped to be a school teacher some day._

_But you've ended up stuck in a book…_

_Yes. I may have only been a fifth year student, but I did discover some secrets that students wouldn't ordinarily have uncovered. It's possible that if you can answer some of my questions about what's going on in the world and at school, I could answer some of your questions, and maybe explain a thing or two to you._

_I'll think about it._

And then a sense of the book being closed, and the light being cut off, as the book was abruptly tossed into a trunk or something.

Tom considered, in the darkness, the brief interaction he had just had. He reckoned it was probably a Slytherin student, or a paranoid Ravenclaw one. The replies had been very guarded, the writer not wanting to reveal more than he or she wished. The writer had probably been male, Tom decided, and probably from one of the lower years.

When he had made himself, he had never considered that he might become self-aware, or capable of functioning as a separate entity. He had thought he knew everything, but it turned out, he clearly hadn't known anywhere near enough.

* * *

After what seemed a relatively short time (as compared to the preceding wait) there was a sense of light again, and then of ink once more upon the pages.

_It says 'T M Riddle' on the cover of this book. There was a 'Tom Marvolo Riddle' at Hogwarts in the 1940's. Did __he__ put you in here? Was this __his__ book?_

Tom was momentarily at a loss as to how to respond. It was the same writer back, he was certain, but clearly he had been digging around and researching. Tom opted for a partial truth.

_There was a Tom Marvolo Riddle in my year, who was a powerful wizard. This could have been one of his books, and if it were him who put me in here, that would certainly make sense. Perhaps I was part of some experiment he was carrying out._

_There aren't any students from those years who died or disappeared in an unaccounted for manner. Well not apart from a girl called Myrtle, who was killed when the Chamber of Secrets opened._

This had to be a Slytherin student, Tom was almost certain. It was difficult to imagine even the most paranoid Ravenclaw being quite so cautious – at this stage – as to have already researched the class lists for those years in this much depth.

_I don't know how I can explain to you. Maybe he copied me from someone's memories without killing them. I don't think I could have been Myrtle. Some of the things I know are knowledge only a Slytherin student might have, and I'm sure Myrtle was in Ravenclaw. I'm sorry, but I can't tell you who I am._

Tom hesitated. He needed something big to hook the attention, and entice the writer to come back, otherwise, he sensed, he was going to lose him.

_The Chamber of Secrets opened, and Rubeus Hagrid was accused of being the one to open it,_ Tom continued, _but I don't think Hagrid could have been the one to do it. Or that that spider of Hagrid's was responsible for the catastrophes. Giant spiders can't petrify. I think maybe Tom Marvolo Riddle might have been responsible for the Chamber of Secrets opening, and that maybe my existing has something to do with whatever he was doing at the time._

_Hagrid is still at Hogwarts. He's the gamekeeper. I'll talk to him about the Chamber of Secrets and anything odd going on at that time. I have a friend who knows Hagrid and gets on with him well._

There was a sense of the covers being abruptly snapped shut, and then of darkness again.

Tom wondered if he'd done enough?

* * *

Light again, then ink, and a connection to a different writer, this one vibrant, open, and vulnerable.

_Hi. My name's…_

A splash of ink, and Tom sensed a fight for control of the quill. Then the writer took up again.

_Sorry about that. My friend who found you says no names or personal details about us, unless we know more about you and what exactly your situation is. He says names have power. Anyway, we went to see Hagrid and he was pleased someone believed it wasn't Aragog (that was his big spider) and he wouldn't be surprised if it was 'that Riddle'. Hagrid described him as 'a right nasty piece of work' and says he's the wizard who calls himself 'Lord Voldemort' these days. My friend says 'Tom Marvolo Riddle' is an anagram of 'I am Lord Voldemort', and doesn't think it terribly sophisticated for a wizard to make silly anagrams like that._

This writer was female, Tom reckoned, and almost certainly a Gryffindor. He inwardly fumed at her friend for daring to cast aspersions upon the name he had chosen for himself, and the rather clever anagram he had made. He calmed himself, and since she seemed to be more communicative decided to try to take advantage of that.

_I'm pleased to have been of some help to Hagrid, even if only in letting him know someone else believes him innocent._ He hesitated. He had been reasonably sure the likely Slytherin writer wouldn't mention him, but who could tell what this Gryffindor might have done. _Did you tell him about me?_

_My friend said not to do so. He told Hagrid he'd come across some old writings in a disused classroom which mentioned Riddle as a suspect for opening the chamber, but they were unsigned, and no kind of evidence. Hagrid was sort of disappointed at that, but tried to get us to eat one of his teeth-breaking rock buns, anyway._

_Does anyone know where 'Lord Voldemort' is now? Is there any chance he could be caught and questioned?_

_He's got a gang of secret supporters who call themselves 'Death Eaters' and they play horrible jokes on muggles and fight aurors. It's sort of almost a war in the magical community._

What in Merlin's name? That had not been the plan, or at least not the plan that Tom had had when he made himself. Death Eaters, yes, and possibly wholesale muggle torture and genocide later (the muggles had a lot to answer for, between his father and that orphanage) but he had been *supposed* to rule from the shadows, or maybe seize the Ministry first in a coup. Fighting aurors had never been part of the plan, or not the original one. Some of them were decent half-bloods or pure-bloods. Heck, even the occasional muggle-born with good manners and who either knew their place or was outrageously talented was acceptable in Tom's visions of the future. He himself was a demonstration of the fact that one didn't have to be a pure-blood to have skill and power.

He could only presume that he had lost focus somehow, somewhere along the line. There was really only one response he could make to that.

_He hardly sounds sane._

Tom sensed a change of writer. It was the one who had found him who responded:

_He's powerful. And a lot of his supporters are pure-bloods or half-bloods who don't like muggles and are more interested in having a bit of fun than anything else._

Nonetheless, Tom was disappointed. He – or at least Lord Voldemort – should have been capable of keeping his followers in check, at least until the original goal of capturing and consolidating a grip on power had been achieved. If they were fighting aurors, they hadn't done that. He had lost focus or control – maybe both. Going after muggles at an early stage before power had been obtained might be effective publicity, but it was a risky strategy at best. Muggle-borns and half-bloods had relatives who were muggles, and some of them, who hadn't had the same upbringing as Tom, might even actually like them and think highly of them.

_He may be powerful, but he's acting in a fashion which is high-risk and which would – unless there's some underlying secret agenda – be unworthy of any true Slytherin._

Tom had to think and make his mind up what line to take. He probably ought to be loyal to himself, but given he'd apparently gone insane, it was difficult to respect what he was doing – especially given how he was messing things up so badly. Maybe he could bring himself back to his senses, but right now the only tools he had to work with were a fairly junior male Slytherin student and a similarly junior female Gryffindor – who _were_ apparently friends though, in a combination which crossed the unlikeliest house divide.

_You need to be able to defend yourselves if there's fighting like this going on._ Tom continued. _Who's the current defence teacher, and what's he or she like?_

_It's a rather old Irish wizard this year, who's almost completely deaf, and who was brought in as a last minute replacement after Professor Biggins, last year's teacher, was crushed by a piece of falling masonry on the last day of the school year. There's a rumour going around that Voldemort may have cursed the position so nobody can last in it longer than a year._

That made no sense at all to Tom. Well not except from the point of view of maybe trying to weaken future generations of witches and wizards so that they might be easier to kill and conquer in a war. But still, deliberately trying to hurt the prospects of pupils and his old school… What had Lord Voldemort been thinking, Tom wanted to know? And why hadn't Dumbledore broken the jinx? If he had beaten Grindelwald, he surely had to have had the knowledge to break the curse – unless Voldemort's knowledge of the dark arts was so great that even Dumbledore couldn't fight it, but in that case why was Voldemort still fighting a war if he was that powerful? None of this made sense to Tom.

_If you're interested, I might be able to show you a thing or two…_ Tom offered. Maybe he could entice the pair of them into interacting with him more directly, and he could get a better 'look' at them. He remembered one of them was a Gryffindor, and might be squeamish in her sensibilities, and added a hasty reassurance. _Nothing 'dark' or dangerous. Variant shielding charms, counter-jinxes, applicable transfiguration... Things like that._

_Something for __nothing__?_

The quill was practically dripping with scepticism. Tom had to remind himself he was dealing with a Gryffindor and a Slytherin here. Too dark and the Gryffindor might get upset. Too helpful without any obvious strings attached or motivation and the Slytherin would get paranoid.

_It feels to me as if I was always highly ambitious to be a teacher, and this is the first chance I've had to pass things on in however many years it is I've been hidden away in the place you found me. And you don't seem to me to be friends of 'Lord Voldemort', and if he is responsible for my condition, I'd be happy to help someone who wants to bring him down a peg or two._

Well it was sort of true. Tom had had vague notions of becoming a defence teacher at some point to be in a position to search Hogwarts for founders' relics and assess the 'talent' coming through the school. And he definitely wanted to try and bring Voldemort to his senses, by fighting him if necessary.

And he thought he might have mentioned wanting to be a teacher to the Slytherin male before, which might make him seem more credible now if the Slytherin remembered that.

_We'll think about it._

There was the abrupt snap of the covers being shut, and darkness again.

* * *

_My friend wants to give you a chance to show us some things._

It was the Slytherin male, back again.

Tom pondered that. It suggested that the Gryffindor was apparently prepared to believe the best of Tom, but the original finder was somewhat sceptical still, yet prepared to go along with it because his friend wanted it.

_Do you have anywhere secure you can practise magic, unobserved?_

_That would depend on how showy or noisy the magic might be. We're currently in an abandoned classroom on the third floor, but it's not remote enough that anything particularly attention grabbing would be unobserved._

_Well it will have to do for now. So long as you're both proficient in following directions any risk should be minimal. Do you understand what this is?_ Tom filled the page with a swirl of arrows and the word 'Expelliarmus'.

_That looks like the incantation and notation of wand movements for a standard disarming charm._

The reply had come back with scarcely a pause. At least the writer (or his friend if she was present) was fairly sharp then.

_And this?_

Tom repeated the word, but switched some of the arrows.

_Is that possible?_

_Unless the rules of magic have changed, it should be._

_That looks a considerably more complex way to do things. Why would one do it that way, unless?..._

There was a change in writer. It was the female Gryffindor again.

_My friend's a bit slow. It's the spell altered for use in tight confines, right? You don't need so much room to wave your arm or wand around? If you're __good__ enough, you can probably cast it faster too?_

_And it's quite useful in elaborate robes._ Tom added, feeling the need to point something out which she'd overlooked. She'd got the other main points of why he'd put in the hours devising this modification of the spell. _At this point, if you know the substitutiary locomotion charm, you can animate a suit of armour and practice disarming that._

_The what?_

'_Rediscovered' by Eglantine Price in the early 1940's, scribbled in the notebooks of a half-mad warlock of centuries earlier. It can be used to bring ordinarily 'inanimate' objects 'to life'._

_That sounds like pretty advanced charm work._

_What year are you in?_

_Second._

She didn't qualify it, and Tom figured that meant they were both probably second years. That was quite impressive given the magic which _had_ still been left hiding him, which the Slytherin writer must have identified and removed. It gave him a better idea of what he was working with and that this pair were probably reasonably magically precocious. Nowhere near as skilled, as he himself had been, probably, but definitely workable material, and young enough to be malleable if he played this right…

_Well, it would be unreasonable for you to try this variant of the disarming charm out if the only viable targets you have are each other, so how about I show you something else…_

* * *

Author Notes:

This is my stab at a few scenes from the perspective of 'Tom', and I've gone a bit outside the canon universe, imagining him being 'discovered' whilst Lord Voldemort is still active and fighting the first wizarding war. As far as Lord Voldemort is concerned, he thought he left the diary hidden somewhere safe and appropriate (likely a favourite spot in the Slytherin dormitories) at Hogwarts, and hasn't gotten around to retrieving/relocating it yet. He's been sort of busy with other things such as making more horcruxes and running a terror campaign, after all...

The Slytherin and Gryffindor that Tom is trying to work upon are respectively Severus Snape and Lily Evans, in their second years at Hogwarts. (The events in this chapter are going on during the autumn term.)

This one's a one-shot for now, posted to give those who have me on alert something to read whilst I scratch my head over some of my currently ongoing stories.


End file.
